Sailing in the 25- to 28-ft Sweet Spot
Here’s something we don’t often give much thought: The Latitude 38 Classy Classifieds has categories of boats broken up by size, such as 24 Feet and Under, 25 – 28 Feet, 29 – 31 Feet and so on. At one point, some bright spark must have suggested categories as great way to organize the “For Sale” ads, because it wasn’t always so. In the early days of the magazine there were no categories; ads were printed in the Classified section in the order they arrived in the mail.
We don’t know if they’ve spent much time in “warm waters,” but a couple of nice boats just showed up in the 25- to 28-ft category, reminding us of the variety of very sweet boats that come in that size. They’re inexpensive to own and maintain, usually quick to get off the dock for a sail, and are reasonably priced. Some of them are good for sailing the Bay and others for sailing around the world.
The three that caught our eye in that section today are shown below.
The Cal 2-25 is a Southern California Jensen Marine classic. The Cal 2-25s are comfortable pocket cruisers with reasonable headroom, an inboard engine and a head! The additional photos supplied with this boat, located in Stockton, make her look very clean and a perfect boat for sailing the Delta or San Francisco Bay. Latitude 38 founder Richard Spindler had a very basic, original Cal 25 that he trailered to Mexico for cruising in the Sea of Cortez. There were 392 Cal 2-25s built as an improvement over the older, very different Cal 25.
We’ve written about Albin Vegas many times, as so many people have cruised them all over the planet. One of the well-known voyages of Albin Vegas was by West Coast sailor John Neal. He and Barbara Merritt cruised the South Pacific aboard the Albin Vega Mahina. Mahina was recently restored in Seattle. Matt Rutherford solo-circumnavigated the Americas on an Albin Vega about a decade ago, which, of course, includes transiting the icy Northwest Passage! SailboatData says 3,450 were built. The ad for the Albin Vega pictured below says, “She has undergone a serious refit with the intention of cruising.” She’s located in Monterey.
If you’re looking for racy in this size range, the Scott Kauffman-designed, Dennis Choate-built CF 27s were fast when they were built in the mid-’70s, and they’re still winning today. Midnight Express reports they finished second in the recent Long Beach Race Week. Now she’s available and has some new sails as well. Records show 36 CF 37s were built.
There are 11 boats total, including the three above, in the 25–28-ft section of our Classy Classifieds. It’s a great-sized boat if you want to race, gunkhole around the Delta, have fun with friends, or circumnavigate the globe. They also don’t need a large crew to sail and are quick and easy to get out for a sail, and buying new sheets or other boat bits can be far less expensive than the cost of caring for larger boats.
Who’s got a story of sailing one of these three types of boats?
P.S. If you want to sell your boat, list it in the Classy Classifieds before 5 p.m. Saturday, August 15, to be included in the September issue of Latitude 38 print magazine.